Followers

Office anthropology™ →Go uptown The JC puts on his pith-helmet, grabs his butterfly net and a rucksack full of marmalade sandwiches, and heads into the concrete jungleIndex: Click ᐅ to expand: Work anthropology Tell me more Sign up for our newsletter — or just get in touch: for ½ a weekly 🍺 you get to consult JC. Ask about it here.

What? You are searching? You want to multiply yourself by ten, by a hundred? You seek followers? — Seek zeroes! Götzen-Dämmerung

—Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, Maxims and Arrows, 14.

Beyond books, consider this simple heuristic: your work and ideas, whether in politics, the arts, or other domains, are antifragile if, instead of having one hundred percent of the people finding your mission acceptable or mildly commendable, you are better off having a high percentage of people disliking you and your message (even intensely), combined with a low percentage of extremely loyal and enthusiastic supporters.

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile

This appeals to the JC, given he has hardly any supporters, and can at least console him with the fact that they do seem to be quite enthusiastic. We think this probably points up the difference between Nigel Farage — who polarises people, but he’s hard to ignore — and whoever the leader of the Liberal Democrats is, who would love to polarise someone — anyone — but does a magnificent job of being ignored.

See also

• Working from home and the premium mediocre careers of Maya Millenial.